1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to the field of information processing systems. In particular, the present invention relates to computer systems which incorporate peripheral devices, such as audio, video, pointing device, input, output, memory, and modem peripheral devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to computer systems having resources for such peripheral devices that must be allocated within the computer system in order to enhance system performance. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system that provides relief to resource-constrained computer systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer systems, such as personal computers, are increasingly being designed and constructed fill-featured, with many types of peripheral devices integrated with such computers systems. Peripheral devices, such as mouse, modem, audio, video, memory and input/output ports are now standard within such computer systems. As a result of having so many peripheral devices integrated within computer systems, system resources, such as direct memory access (DMA) channels, memory, input/output ports, and hardware interrupt request (IRQ) signals, are becoming increasingly constrained, which diminishes or eliminates altogether the possibility of expanding the computer system.
One technique which attempts to manage system resources includes the so-called "Plug and Play" protocols which are composed of a set of specifications that allows a computer system to configure itself automatically to work with peripherals such as monitors, modems, printers, and so forth. A user can "plug" in a peripheral and "play" it without manually configuring the system. Plug and Play requires both a BIOS that supports Plug and Play, and a Plug and Play device, which can either be located on a system board or in an expansion slot. (BIOS is an acronym for "Basic Input/Output System." On personal computer compatible computers, BIOS is composed of the set of essential software routines that test hardware at start-up, start the operating system, and support the transfer of data among hardware devices. The BIOS is stored in read-only memory (ROM), so that it can be executed when power is applied to the computer. Although critical to performance, the BIOS is usually "invisible" to computer users.)
The ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) Plug and Play specification allows devices to outline dependencies in resources, as well as sub-optimal configurations. Unfortunately, BIOS implementations as well as Plug and Play operating systems, such as Windows 95.TM. (a product of Microsoft Corporation), currently attempt to fully configure all devices, without regard to the needs of the other devices present in a given computer system. In other words, it would seem that a user could simply utilize the "set-up" option present within the computer system to control whether particular devices are assigned particular resources. However, even if the ISA Plug and Play BIOS attempts to partially configure the device, the Plug and Play operating system will override the configuration, potentially disallowing the configuration of other devices. The only way to completely prevent this behavior is to control the resources that the device requests. Current Plug and Play routines are unable to prevent such behavior in an efficient and user-friendly manner. Based on the foregoing, it can be appreciated that what is needed to overcome such drawbacks is a method and system that would allow a user to efficiently manage the allocation of system resources for particular devices, without having to provide all resources for a particular device during an allocation. Such a method and system, if implemented, would overcome the limitation of current Plug and Play routines.